Removing Master Boot Record on old disk

I have a spare disk which used to have Windows 98SE on it. I reformatted the disk, as a single large 'basic' partition, by downloading the manufacturers installation software and reformatting the disk with the manufacturers installation software. I added the disk to my PC and ran 'disk management'. To my surprise 'disk management' is offering to let me make the partition on the second disk 'active'. This disk does not have an OS on it anymore. Device Manager - Properties - Volumes says that the 'Type' is basic and the 'Partition style' is 'Master Boot Record (MBR)'. Reformatting with 'disk management' produces the same results. So, can the Master Boot Record be removed from this disk? If so, how? Is this an issue? If this partition gets 'activated' will it be an issue if there is not an OS on it? Does windows XP always make 'primary partitions/basic' 'master boot record' partitions? Norton antivirus also sees two Master Boot Records in my computer as well as three Boot Records!

"John Smithe" <JS@huh.wha> wrote in message news:OsjCAMShFHA.3340@TK2MSFTNGP10.phx.gbl...>I have a spare disk which used to have Windows 98SE on it. I reformatted> the disk, as a single large 'basic' partition, by downloading the> manufacturers installation software and reformatting the disk with the> manufacturers installation software. I added the disk to my PC and ran> 'disk management'. To my surprise 'disk management' is offering to let> me make the partition on the second disk 'active'. This disk does not> have an OS on it anymore. Device Manager - Properties - Volumes says> that the 'Type' is basic and the 'Partition style' is 'Master Boot> Record (MBR)'. Reformatting with 'disk management' produces the same> results. So, can the Master Boot Record be removed from this disk? If> so, how?

Delete any partitions you have created, then formatting it as an extended partition should do what you want.

"John Smithe" <JS@huh.wha> wrote in message news:Xns9692178043DADDQ1V55H078NX3AGH5MJX@207.46.248.16...>> Delete any partitions you have created, then formatting it as an>> extended partition should do what you want.>>>>>> Didn't work. The MBR was still there.

"John Smithe" <JS@huh.wha> wrote in messagenews:OsjCAMShFHA.3340@TK2MSFTNGP10.phx.gbl...>I have a spare disk which used to have Windows 98SE on it. I reformatted> the disk, as a single large 'basic' partition, by downloading the> manufacturers installation software and reformatting the disk with the> manufacturers installation software. I added the disk to my PC and ran> 'disk management'. To my surprise 'disk management' is offering to let> me make the partition on the second disk 'active'. This disk does not> have an OS on it anymore. Device Manager - Properties - Volumes says> that the 'Type' is basic and the 'Partition style' is 'Master Boot> Record (MBR)'. Reformatting with 'disk management' produces the same> results. So, can the Master Boot Record be removed from this disk? If> so, how?

Li'l Roberto responds...>>> Delete any partitions you have created, then formatting it as an>>> extended partition should do what you want.

> "John Smithe" <JS@huh.wha> wrote in message > news:Xns9692178043DADDQ1V55H078NX3AGH5MJX@207.46.248.16...>>>>> Didn't work. The MBR was still there.

John:I'm assuming you're planning to use that second drive for storage and/or backup purposes. Why don't you simply use XP's Disk Management utility to format the drive? There's really no need to use the manufacturer's utility for this purpose. The DM utility is a perfectly fine program to partition and/or format your drive. Unless you have some special problem with that drive, I don't think you have to "remove" the MBR with some special program. Is there any reason why simple formatting of the drive is insufficient for your purposes?Anna

"Anna" <myname@myisp.net> wrote in message news:%23L77zb7hFHA.3608@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...> "John Smithe" <JS@huh.wha> wrote in message> news:OsjCAMShFHA.3340@TK2MSFTNGP10.phx.gbl...>>I have a spare disk which used to have Windows 98SE on it. I reformatted>> the disk, as a single large 'basic' partition, by downloading the>> manufacturers installation software and reformatting the disk with the>> manufacturers installation software. I added the disk to my PC and ran>> 'disk management'. To my surprise 'disk management' is offering to let>> me make the partition on the second disk 'active'. This disk does not>> have an OS on it anymore. Device Manager - Properties - Volumes says>> that the 'Type' is basic and the 'Partition style' is 'Master Boot>> Record (MBR)'. Reformatting with 'disk management' produces the same>> results. So, can the Master Boot Record be removed from this disk? If>> so, how?>>> Li'l Roberto responds...>>>> Delete any partitions you have created, then formatting it as an>>>> extended partition should do what you want.>>>> "John Smithe" <JS@huh.wha> wrote in message >> news:Xns9692178043DADDQ1V55H078NX3AGH5MJX@207.46.248.16...>>>>>>> Didn't work. The MBR was still there.>>> "grolschie" <grolschie@NOSPAMgmail.com> wrote in message > news:mv5Be.265$PL5.58456@news.xtra.co.nz...>> fixmbr?>> http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/windows/xp/all/proddocs/en-us/bootcons_fixmbr.mspx>>> John:> I'm assuming you're planning to use that second drive for storage and/or > backup purposes. Why don't you simply use XP's Disk Management utility to > format the drive? There's really no need to use the manufacturer's utility > for this purpose. The DM utility is a perfectly fine program to partition > and/or format your drive. Unless you have some special problem with that > drive, I don't think you have to "remove" the MBR with some special > program. Is there any reason why simple formatting of the drive is > insufficient for your purposes?> Anna

I screwed the MBR so bad once, somehow, that fdisking couldn't fix things. Downloading Western Digital's software for my drive and writing 0's to the entire drive allowed me to get it back to a working state. :-)

"John Smithe" <JS@huh.wha> wrote in message news:Xns9693944432566DQ1V55H078NX3AGH5MJX@207.46.248.16...> On 13 Jul 2005, you wrote in microsoft.public.windowsxp.general:>>> Is there any reason why>> simple formatting of the drive is insufficient for your purposes?>> Anna>>>> Tried that, didn't work.

John:When you say it "didn't work", specifically, in what way didn't it work? I assume from your original posting that you're planning to use that drive as a second drive for storage/backup purposes. Is that right? If so, after you've partitioned/formatted it (using the Disk Management utility in XP) what exactly is the problem? Does the system not recognize the drive? Do you get some sort of error message(s) when you attempt to access the drive?

It would really help if you would provide more precise details concerning the problem other than your concern re "removing the MBR" from the disk?Anna

"John Smithe" <JS@huh.wha> wrote in message news:Xns9693944432566DQ1V55H078NX3AGH5MJX@207.46.248.16...> On 13 Jul 2005, you wrote in microsoft.public.windowsxp.general:>>> Is there any reason why>> simple formatting of the drive is insufficient for your purposes?>> Anna>>>> Tried that, didn't work.

John:When you say it "didn't work", specifically, in what way didn't it work? I assume from your original posting that you're planning to use that drive as a second drive for storage/backup purposes. Is that right? If so, after you've partitioned/formatted it (using the Disk Management utility in XP) what exactly is the problem? Does the system not recognize the drive? Do you get some sort of error message(s) when you attempt to access the drive?

It would really help if you would provide more precise details concerning the problem other than your concern re "removing the MBR" from the disk?Anna

Habing a similar problem - so long as the MBR is there the disk tries to be the one from which my system boots. but acks the actual boot sequences. so the system does not boot . YET becAUSE SO LONG AS IT IS LOADED i CAN NOT ACTUALLY REACH THE BIOS/SETUP IN TIME TOO PREVENTT HE WHOLE THING FROM FREEZING So it gails to boot and gives me a blue screen of non birth. disconnected the system works